The past several years have brought drastic changes to the computer field. Many of these changes are as a result of the rapid growth of the Internet, or World Wide Web. The Internet is a vast collection of computing resources, interconnected as a network, available all over the world. It is used daily by millions of people. The World Wide Web (hereinafter the “Web”) is that portion of the Internet that uses the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) as a protocol for exchanging messages.
A computer user working in a Web environment uses a web browser or other known software that enables the creation and sending of requests for information over the web and allows the responses to these requests to be viewed. These functions are typically combined in what is referred to as a “Web browser”, or “browser.” After the user has created a request using the browser, the request message is sent out over the Internet to a target computer for processing. The target computer is one of the interconnected computers in the Internet network. The target computer will receive the message, attempt to find the data satisfying the user's request, format that data for display with the user's browser, and return the formatted response to the browser software running on the user's computer. The data returned to the user can be a “web page”, which is one of the many files located on the server.
When web pages were first developed, they originally comprised a single file which displayed the content of the web page to the user. However, as the Internet has advanced, “web sites” were developed which comprised many files or pages grouped together. Web sites have become increasingly more complex as the use of the Internet has increased. Web sites today consist of many files of many types which together form the complete web site.
In the past, small web sites were often managed by a single administrator or webmaster. The webmaster would update the content on the web site by editing the content files and posting the updated files to the web site in place of the existing files. However, today, very large web sites exist that contain a large number of files. Often, these sites are not maintained by a single webmaster. Instead, an entire team of individuals may all be updating portions of the web site simultaneously.
This created an entirely new set of concerns. With many programmers working on a web site simultaneously, resource sharing became an issue. One programmer might be working on a particular file for a web site, and a different programmer might need to use this same file in conjunction with a file or page he or she is editing. In addition, the complexity of the editing process might mean that a programmer would be working on a particular file for an extended length of time, rendering the file inaccessible for the entire time the file was being edited or updated.
To overcome these concerns, web content management software has been developed. Web content management software packages aid programmers in editing and updating the content of a web site. These packages use the concept of a “sandbox” or “workspace” to aid programmers in working on files contained on a web site. A workspace is a virtual area assigned to a particular developer or set of developers. A workspace can exist on the local computer from which the developer is accessing the site, or alternatively, it can be a designated area within the server itself. A developer can place a copy of a file in the workspace in order to update or edit it, while the original file remains available to users of the site, or to other developers. In other words, the programmer creates a “working copy” that is used for editing. The file that is being edited or updated remains in the programmer's workspace until the work being performed on it is complete, at which time the programmer replaces the existing file on the web site with the new file. The replacement process is known as “promoting” the updated file to the web site.
A web page comprising five files (index.html, logo.gif, toc.html, contents.html, cool_ad.gif) is shown in FIG. 1a and FIG. 1b. When programmer desires to update the file entitled “cool_ad.gif 101”, a copy of this file is created (e.g., “cool_ad.gif” 102) and placed in a workspace. Users accessing the page see the entire page including the original “cool_ad.gif” 101 as shown in FIG. 1a. The programmer (or group of programmers) working in the newly created workspace see the original “index.html,” “logo.gif,” “toc.html”, and “contents.html” files; however, within the workspace the new edited “cool_ad.gif” 102 file appears, as shown in FIG. 1b. Once the programmers have completed their work on “cool_ad.gif” 102, the new file is promoted to the base web site and replaces the original “cool_ad.gif” 101. FIG. 1a and FIG. 1b illustrate the differences between what the user or users working within a workspace see as opposed to a user accessing the site from outside the workspace
The technique of using workspaces enabled several developers to work on a large web site simultaneously without interfering with each other or with other users of the site. It also allowed for an organizational structure to be applied to web development. This means a junior programmer could edit a file within his workspace which could then be transferred to his supervisor's workspace for review before being promoted to the web site. During the time elapsed before this process is complete, other programmers and users would still have access to the original file on the web site.
The concept of workspaces worked well as long as the content of the web site that was being edited was static content (images, logos, data, etc.). However, as the field of web site development grew, so did the complexity of the sites. Dynamic web content became prevalent on web sites. Dynamic web content consists of interactive and/or frequently changing web content such as animated GIFs, stock tickers, streaming videos, weather maps, and the like. In addition, the Java Server Page (JSP) was developed. JSPs contain Java and HTML source code, which is compiled into a Java class file and executed using a JSP servlet running on the web server. The code contained within the JSP is used to modify the web page before it is sent to the user. A JSP allows a page to adjust dynamically to the request from a user, such that different users could see different content from accessing the same URL. For example, the JSP might recognize a request from a particular user, determine from the user profile that the user is named Tom, and return a page beginning with the message “Hello Tom.”
Dynamic web content cannot be edited using the prior art system of workspace allocation. JSPs are normally compiled into a unique Java class and executed by the application server when required. The generated Java class is loaded into a ClassLoader, which identifies the class by its unique name. When referenced, the ClassLoader returns the appropriate Java byte-code (executable code) for the generated class. The class file is matched to the path and filename in the system. For example, a Java class named “theClass” within an application such as IBM's WebSphere could have a fully-qualified Java class name of “com.ibm.websphere.TheClass.” Once resolved by the application server, the class file created would be “com/ibm/websphere/TheClass.class” where the path and filename are matched to the package/name of the JSP. As a result of this method of identification, JSP files are unable to be edited in a workspace environment. In a workspace environment, the ClassLoader would need to return different executable code for the same class name (i.e., one when called from within the workspace and a second one when called from outside of the workspace). The first request would cause the first loaded class to be returned, but a second class request would yield unpredictable results, because of a name conflict. This would not necessarily cause an error, but the results would be unpredictable because the JSP output would be generated from executing the wrong version of the class.
Accordingly, it is desired to be able to edit and update dynamic content files, such as JSP files, in a workspace environment without experiencing the conflicts described above. It is further desired to be able to perform JSP editing that is subject to the organizational structure used with static content, thus, assuring high levels of quality and security.